My presentation topic ：Videogames - But are they art?

Introduction

- Art is difficult to be defined basically(e.g Aristotle-tried to defined art but still unsatisfied individuals remain)

- Video game is an art form in 3 aspect

• Aesthetic aspect
• Emotion aspect
• Creativity aspect

Aesthetic aspect

Although the outlook of videogame is unconventional , it gets some artistic elements like graphic art,music,story .

Emotion aspect

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses or emotions . Without emotion a painting is just a canvas with paint on it and a movie is only a succession quickly displayed photos with voices . Videogames like <Tomb Raider> is a good example  . The player is connecting to the character when they are playing .Therefore , the emotion of the player as well as the audiences watching the game is affected by the videogame .

Creativity aspect

Art is all about creativity . Videogame can stimulate one's creativity actually . Some videogame such as <The SimCity> can give a platform to people to creat their own "world" .


My example is "Happy Island" .It is a videogame in facebook which people can create their own island in order to attrack tourists . Happy Island fits into the above 3 aspects of art form . It contains the aesthetic elements like the beautiful decoration in the island . Besides ,when you are playing the game you are connecting to the game because you feel happy and satisfy if many tourists go to your island . Also , "Happy Island" shows your talent of creativity as you need to design a unique island for yourself .

All in all , videogames have the potential to become art form indeed even it can't achieved the highest levels of artistic expression now .


Picture of <Happy Island>

Is it reasonable to consider computer games as art?

a) How does Adams define art? Do you agree with his definition?

Adams defines art in three types : literary art, fine art and decorative art .
Besides , he thinks arts should be able to represent its era and discuss over generations . He also thinks an art work  should have the ability to delivery messages and express artists' thought.

I partly agree with his definition . I think art is fundamentally difficult to give a constant definition.Art is everything . Although we can say that some works which contain art element is art ,we can never sure which is art accurately . Art as an evolution process of human beings , it is one of the enjoyment of us . I agree that a good art work should be able to express artists' feeling  . For example , if a painting does not contain expression , it is just a colour painted on the canvas or paper . But art is not just delivery messages and have expression , even a perfume can be an art . Therefore , Adams's definition of art is typically a formal one but cannot represent all .


b) According to Adams, what is needed for videogames to be considered as art?

Acoording to Adams , videogames should have conditions that like any other art forms . He think the development of video game should focus on the aesthetic value instead of fun . Besides , he said  that  video game can be art if it is  able to deal with critics for its aesthetics.


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References:
Ernest W. Adams, “Will Computer Games Ever Be a Legitimate Art Form”. In Clarke and Mitchell (eds), Videogames and Art, 255-264.

Ethics on video games

a) According to the film, what are some pros and cons of playing videogames for individuals and societies?

pros:
-get satisfaction throught playing the games
-making people become more concentrate when playing the game
-can be a promotional tools among people all over the would

cons:
-people may become violent
-people may be addicted to the game and cannot identify the real world

b) According the film, is there any evidence that digital games can encourage aggressive values and anti-social actions in the real world? Do you agree?

Undoubtedly , people may be addicted to the violent game and do some anti-social action when they are out of control to the game . And we can see that most of the popular videogames are the shoting or fighting games . However , videogames can benefit us in some case such as we feel relaxed when playing the games with our friends .


c)Should governments have the right to ban certain games? Why or why not?

From my point of view , government should have the right to ban certain games . Some games contain excessive violence or erotic contents should be banned . But the point is that what is the level of excessive . It is difficult  for the governement to set up the law and the level of excessive is different from everyone . The ethics value of video game is hard to be seen . I suggest that it is more effective for the  government to promote the ethics value in society as well as the designer of the videogames rather than banning the improper games .

My Online Identity Biography

I have 4 online identities . They are facebook, msn, e-mail and Lingnan intranet account .
Each of them plays different role of me  .
For facebook,msn and email , I use it to connect with my friends .Even though we are not meeting each other every day , we can connect our friends through these online identities .
For Lingnan intranet account , I use it to check my homeworks and notes . It is more convenient for me to deal with my lecture notes through internet other than traditional methods .
Living in moder world , every person must have more than one online identities .It is similar to who have many credit cards . Sometimes I need to have a write down different account's name in case I forgot the usename and password .
Because of safety reason , I have to change the password frequently . Sometimes there are some dangers in internet's world . Therefore , people wouldn't use real name for their online identities . For me , I will use different usename for various accounts . The disadvantage is that sometimes I will forgot the usename or password  .
Online identities are essential for us nowadays  . It allows people to deal with their works or connect their clients through internet . The invention of submarine cable gives a platform for us to connect people all over the world . I cannot imgine if we do not have this technology  . However , there is a remind that we have to stay alarm in internet's world .

Do video sharing sites such as Youtube enhance or worsen creative culture? Comment.

Yes ,I do think it enhances creative culture .
According to wikipedia , "YouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos."In the past , -s,there was a few means to post video with variety audiences . You-tube provides a platform for people from all over the world to share their video .
First , Youtube give a way for people to show their talents . People can record thier own performance on the Youtube . For example , the person who good at playing piano can show off themself through sharing video on Youtube . Only professional piano players can open concert before , but now everyone can open "concert" through internet  (see Video 1) . Also some people mixed different resouces to create a new video (see Video 2)
.
Video 1 : <The player mixed different piano songs together  >


Video 2 : remix of  " Love the way you lie"

Moreover ,some netizens designed some T-shirt and poster for the memorable phrases of "Bus uncle " . It reflecst the creativeness and the sense of business opportunity among people too.

<You've got pressure t-shirt>

<Bus judgement poster>

We cannot not say that Youtube  can make us become creative but it do enhance creative culture . This is because people will be more willing to create some different things when they realize there is a way to show off themself  and raise the popularity among people just like the examples above .


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Reference :
1.Youtube , Wikipedia, retrived from 8 Oct 2010:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube

Pictures' link :
1.EastNorthSouthWest , retrived from 8 Oct 2010 :
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20060524_1.htm

Comment on - Youtube "Bus uncle"

1. How many viewers are estimated to have watched the youtube video?

According to Youtube website , there are many different versions for the video . One of the videos have 1,061,535 viewers . It is estimated over 2 millions people from all over the world have watched "Bus uncle" .

 2. How would you rate the video?
(a) Is it of high quality in technical terms? Is it interesting aesthetically eg camera angles, use of light, the narrative, and so on?

The video was clipped by a passenger who sat nearby the "bus uncle" . It was recorded by a mobile phone's camera . Therefore , there is no professional technique inside . The camera angle just come from the position of the passenger's seat . There is no spot light or other light effects because we can hardly see the focus of the light . Since it was clipped on the bus , it is very noisy .Also there is no post-modification of the video so no narrative could be added and could hardly be high quality in techincal terms at all.



(b) Does it raise interesting socio-cultural issues?

Yes , it does . The video inspires strong debate within the city including lifestyle of grass-root people,foul language and social manner .For example , the"bus uncle" performed the  impolite manner and used some foul language to talk with the guys  . However , those passengers did not help the guys .We can see the citizen's awareness is not much high . Also , the pet phrase of bus uncle"You have got pressure , I have got pressure" have became widely known phrase . One of the reason for it becoming popular maybe it creates a resonance among our society . It reflects some certain level of stress problem facing among Hong Kong people .

3. Do you think it deserved the attention that it received from the internet community?

No , I don't think it deserved . Actually , this kind of events happen in Hong Kong everyday . The reason for it to become popular is that it was put in the internet . As we know most of the netizens are youngsters , they regard this accident as a "reality show" . They laugh at the guy and think that he is a coward. But I think the youngers only see the superficial layer instead of reflecting the accident .I think the netizens have exaggerated the accident .

Film : Mission to Earth

When digital cinemas appear , audiences are taken into a new film world . Digital cinemas allow us to enjoy the film in different ways such as the creation of 3D films . In the past ,we can just watch 2D movies without other enjoyment . Now we can enjoy the movie with more real scene(wear 3D glasses),moving seat or even spritz .

In the film"Mission to Earth" , there is no dialogues among the actors . There is only a voice(the narrator) to tell the audiences what is going on . Compared to the tradition films , audiences can have more imagination over this kind of digital film(Mission to Earth) since there is no clear dialogues .Audiences can focus on the actions of the actors and think more about the narrator's voice . Therefore , the voice of the narrator is so important because it is the soul of the film .

The whole arragement of "Mission to Earth" is just like a combination of various parts . For example , sometimes there are two scenes appear simultaneously with what the actors see in the movie . Audiences have to focus the  two scenes in order to catch up with the story .  The presenting way can rich the scene of the movie and speed up the story .This kind of film's arragement recalls my memory of the Chinese term called "double-line narration" . That means there are two story development over one story which the presenting means is similar to "Mission to Earth".